the Smart City That Leonardo da Vinci Dreamed 500 Years Ago

Streets with divided traffic. Pedestrian areas. Waterways. Buildings of different heights with exterior staircases. Routes designed to get the most out of sunlight and reduce damage from earthquakes. Some of these ideas may sound strange to us. But today, most of them are part of many of our cities. However, five centuries ago, they were still science fiction (at least in the Western world).

They all appear in ManuscriptB  and CodexAtlanticus, and they belong to Leonardo da Vinci. It is likely that they weren’t all inventions of his. But they were observed and recorded by the Italian genius. From his texts (though most have been lost) emerges an innovative project for a clean, efficient city. A smart city that was 500 years ahead of its time. It just never became a reality.

Throughout the 15th century, the city of Milan was obsessed with a project (though it didn’t come true until the end of the century). They wanted to build a building where they could quarantine the sick. The Renaissance blossomed, but the Italian city continued to suffer from outbreaks of the plague. In 1485 alone, more than 100,000 people died.

This lazzaretto,a common building for quarantining contagious patients, has to be well ventilated and have sanitary measures in place, such as one latrine per person. Moreover, it would be cut off from the rest of the city by a moat. Its construction began in 1488 and would last for more than 20 years. Even today, it is remembered with the via lazzaretto in the heart of the Lombard capital.

However, the impact of the plague of 1485 drove not only this project. Renaissance Italy had regained urbanism for the West. The chaotic, unhealthy cities of the Middle Ages had to be addressed. Construction projects such as Pienza (today a UNESCO heritage site) pursued the concept of cittá ideale. Not necessarily a beautiful city, but an efficient, clean, well-organized one. All of this served as inspiration for Leonardo da Vinci.

“Leonardo wanted a comfortable and spacious city, with well-ordered streets and architecture.